When it was good
he could trace his name
through freckles on her back.
Could see all the ways he belonged
in that bed,
with her,
in that house.
Until belong became belong to,
possession possessed
in that bed, in that house
by her.
When it was good
he could trace his name
through freckles on her back.
Could see all the ways he belonged
in that bed,
with her,
in that house.
Until belong became belong to,
possession possessed
in that bed, in that house
by her.
Carol J Forrester 
People possess each other without realizing how that might feel to those possessed. As I hear you pointing out, it is better to belong.
It’s easy to feel we have some sort of claim over the people we’re close to, the problem is when that feeling goes to far and we limit their lives. We should never belong to anyone but ourselves in reality.
This is true Carol
Oh….there is such a shift in that 8th line. It makes me fearful and portends such sadness. Your words and spacing make the shift almost visceral.
Thank you Lillian. I’ve been going to more poetry nights and it’s been really good for my poetry. It reminds me not to get too stuck in my normal rhythms and try to shake things up a bit. Play with ideas.
I second lillian – that turn was incredibly well done.
Thank you. I’ve been looking at some poets recently who talk about shifting the perspective of the poem part way through and it’s an interesting idea that I wanted to play around with.
I’d say your experiment was a success.
I like the direction you took in this quadrille, Carol, where the freckles took you. Possessive love, toxic love, abusive love, all come from the same family: hard to identify or recognise, and even harder to escape. I agree with Lill about the shift.
Thank you Kim. It was something of a unique prompt so when I started I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to go.
It’s like a wheel turning. Inevitable when there’s an imbalance. I like the repetition too, hammers it in.
Really nice new poetic frontiers for you. Jealousy, possessiveness (a lot of S’s) come from one partner’s insecurities; a damn shame. it can strangle relationships.
It’s funny how just a few letters added to a word can spin it into another, darker place.
This is excellent writing!
I identify with this , i was in a controlling possesive relationship for a number of years, it took everything plus more i had to get out of it.
Fantastic writing .
Great turn in the poem. Being possessed is not good.
Love can do that. Its good if realized and discussed and reasoned and managed.
Happy Monday
Much❤🕊❤love
I love the shift in mood in this. It works really well – interesting how that addition of one tiny two-letter word can make such a difference to the meaning.
Interesting to see you are going to more poetry nights. I’ve felt your writing has strengthened (even more) recently.
Great post 🙂
succinct narrative of a love turned possession – though there is ambiguity too as to who is what to whom
“he could trace his name
through freckles on her back.”
That’s a bittersweet perspective on freckle-ness Carol. This made for a sober read.
Those relationships can turn dark just as quickly as your poem did. I really like the repetition at the end.
The belonging vs the belonging to was especially poignant for me. Thank you Carol